Wednesday, January 4, 2012

As I approached my 666th upload on YouTube, several subscribers wondered if I would do some sort of satanic-inspired recipe. Since one of my New Year’s resolutions was to eat less chocolate cake, I decided to go with the next most obvious choice.

My deviled eggs recipe is fairly standard, except I like to add a little cream cheese. Unlike mayonnaise, cream cheese firms up when chilled, and provides a little more luxurious texture. The other glaring addition is a simple, yet stunning ring of candied Fresno chili pepper. I think a little sweetness is important to balance the sharp flavors, and these “rings of fire,” along with a dash of rice vinegar, worked perfectly.

Besides sharing this much-requested recipe, and the gratuitous use of the words, “damn” and “hell,” the other reason I wanted to do this video was to prove that our previously posted hard-boiled egg method works as advertised. The procedure was posted back in March 2010, and some complained it didn’t work. Well, I used the exact same method, and it worked perfectly, again.

This time I’m giving an exact temperature of 210 degrees F, whereas before I just said to bring to a simmer. I imagine many failures were due to people not getting it to a high enough temperature. You also need a heavy pot and tight lid, as well as live close to sea level, but other than that, you should be fine.

By the way, I did try to get the Devil to make a cameo appearance, but he was too busy meeting with the Kardashians on a new deal. Anyway, the NFL playoffs are just about to start (Go, Giants!), so maybe give these sinfully delicious deviled eggs a try for your next big game day buffet. Enjoy!

You live in a unique place in which the word "hella" is used as an intensive adjective. As in the first time I heard it, in a bar in Sacramento: "that shot was hella."

It seems Northern Californians don't have enough time to utter the words "hell of a -," instead choosing to contract the phrase to "hella," which gets really annoying to everyone else after about 10 minutes.

So thank you for not describing your deviled eggs as being "hella good."

Anyway, my friend Don is a professional musician, and in that capacity he works at a lot of wedding receptions. He is also a fiend for deviled eggs. At previous wedding gigs he's been asked (politely) to stay away from the deviled eggs, after making a nuisance of himself. So I'm going to make this recipe for him.

And what the hell is a Fresno pepper? Is that just some weak kind of Californian way to say something nice about Fresno? I've been there. You don't have to defend it.

http://biblioklept.org/2010/11/24/vladimir-nabokovs-recipe-for-eggs-a-la-nabocoque/ Bad cooking technique from a hella good writer.

I put all of the yolk ingredients into a Ziploc bag (usually nested over the lip of a glass to make it sturdy), zip it up and then knead together the ingredients in that bag until well mixed (no need to get bowl or whisk or spatula dirty).

Then just snip off the corner of the bag and pipe the contents into the egg white halves.

David, if you put a rubber band around the egg carton and store it on its long side for a day the yolks will center.

Chef John; I do the simmer gently for 10 minutes after the water just reaches a boil method and I do question how well your method works unless you cook a dozen eggs in a large pan with 3 quarts of water. I have no doubt that works but question whether smaller amounts (which is usual for me) would work. Though I do love the yolks a bit runny in some cases so I may give it a go when it matters less.

My secret ingredient for devilled eggs is an avocado, I think it takes the place if the cream cheese in your recipe. It adds a velvety richness and an attractive color. I like to use olive oil in the mix as well. I garnish with drops of chile oil, and maybe a little lemon zest. The sweethot chili rings are going to look GREAT with my green deviled eggs!

I can't cope with the pressure of life and soon-to-come exams...I wish I was a cat living in someone else's garden. I would get 2 or 3 meals a day and would live a stress-free life made of naps, kneading and eating.

It is true that time for hard boiling eggs changes with altitude. San Francisco is at sea level after all. Where I live, it takes twenty minutes to get eggs to be hard. I do use your method--it just takes a little longer. I notice that you skipped over the peeling segment :-). Did they really all come out that nice?Jackie

philogaia: As I remember in the original recipe there was a vague description of covering the eggs with about an inch water. Being a continental european I have no idea how much an inch is so I eyeball it every time. Works best with thick bottomed pans, I once had cracked an egg with thin bottoms, the yolk was perfect though.

I'm thinking about trying the boiled eggs method. I have an electric stove and the time it will take to bring the water to a simmer will be longer than those who have gas stoves. Will this change the results?

Maybe nobody wants to talk to the chef with a crappy stove, AKA leprosy.

inchrisin: I'm with you on that. We are indeed a lesser bunch of electric stove cookin' losers. I think you just have to do your best with what you have (and asking questions as you just did helps too)

Heck I even leave meat out of recipes sometimes. From what I've gathered from passive aggressive snide remarks here that means I'm an even bigger part of Team Culinary Annoyance!

I used Frank's hot sauce, cuz I personally find Sriracha kind of skanky :p and tabasco is a little to vinegary.

New Orleans is WELL below sea level and the 17 mins. seems just right. Be sure the cold water is ICE cold. I heard it causes the inside of the eggs to steam up or something, and pull that membrane stuff underneath the shell, away from the egg for easy peeling. Gotta check Alton B.'s take on that...hmmm...

I am in a spicy mood today so here is another suggestion. I have a recipe for pickled eggs which I have always loved. What do you think about using pickled eggs for these deviled eggs?. I haven't tried it yet but, need some encouragement.

I know this is a couple years late, but I'm a new fan and was falling in love with you until I did the playoff math. Was this not the year the Giants played the 49ers? Yeah, I know you didn't grow up in the Bay Area, but you make enough Bay Area-love comments that I was certain you had adopted it as your surrogate home. Who did you root for that year when they actually played each other in the championship, hmm? This was a devilish act indeed: I'm both hungry from watching this delicious recipe and disappointed. Will my stomach overrule my loyalty? So torn.

Hi Chef,I posted on a comment under your jambalaya recipe a couple years ago and you replied I was going to make a man very lucky someday. Remember me? Even if you don't, you're still my favorite chef as your recipes are tried and true time after time. Fortunately for me, I found that lucky man and recently cooked about 10 different dishes for his family for Thanksgiving. Oh I stepped up to that plate and sure glad I did, with your help of course. These deviled eggs were a huge hit. Everyone loved them and a Bostonian making deviled eggs for a southern family is kind of like being a fish out of water. I had no clue what a deviled egg was as they are not popular in the northeast. Well, they loved them. One guest actually commented that "they were like crack and made you keep coming back for more". A little inappropriate and extreme indeed but boy that's just what every cook wants to hear! He said he was a connoisseur and these were by far the best he's ever had. I think the candied Fresno pepper was like the cherry on the sundae. I just wanted to say thank you for everything. Not only for a kickass deviled egg recipe but for teaching me so much more. I have learned technique, chemistry, cool tricks, and obviously awesome recipes! I can't thank you enough. hope you have Happy Holidays!Meg